Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Recently I am afraid whether you have entered into a too much tired condition, and so I would like to ask you to take a rest as far as possible.

Sometimes I feel that even taking a rest can be a human duty, and so we should be sometimes necessary to do our human duty.

Fortunately our important job of translating MMK in English is going to arrive at the aim in near future, and so it is not so bad for us to take a rest for a while.

With best wishes Gudo Wafu Nishijima

Following his advise, I am deliberately doing nothing of consequence today. Well, I am doing my laundry. But that's it! I swear!

Taking a rest is obviously important to human beings. So much so that the Bible mandates it as a direct order from God (all that stuff about the Sabbath, you know). It's also important in Buddhism not to over-exert yourself. Our tendency to overwork comes from an indulgence in idealism. We see what's possible -- or at least what seems to be possible -- and we overwork ourselves trying to accomplish those things.

Anyway, I'm back in Knoxville. I'll be flying out to Tex-Ass tomorrow. Got plenty to do there! Take a look at the tour schedule on the link over to your left if you don't believe me.

There is definitely a growing interest in Buddhism in the Bible Belt of the American Southeast. I think people are frustrated with religion. We can no longer believe in things that contradict science. Of course there are plenty of people who say they believe in such things. But that's an intellectual game. You can't read tirades against science on your laptop computer without feeling some sense of irony, even if you don't acknowledge it. Science obviously works.

And yet science can't provide all the answers. We used to think it could. It seemed to be moving in that direction. But it never got there. And it's clear by now that it never will. We need a philosophy that is neither idealism nor materialism.

Whatever. Writing about that stuff is too much like work for me!

I gotta say, I am very impressed with my sister. She's a public defender and does a lot of good for a lot of people.

The Dodge Avenger survived the trip. I gotta make sure Ben checks out that squeaking noise, though. And cleans out the car. He's a teenager for God's sake! How can you make out in the back seat if you can't even find the back seat?

I do hope you're ready, willing and able to tell it like it is to old Gudo when you "arrive at the aim" of completing the MMK translation with him.Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan and true believer, but Gudo's manuscript, as presented recently on his blog, needs a lot of work. I don't know that there's a man alive who can bridge the gap between his dubious sanskrit, unique reading of the text and poor English. I truly hope you succeed. I want to read it.

I deeply regret missing your signing in Ashevegas, didn't know who tf you were...Visited Malaprops a couple of days after you were here. I did, however, discover you... accidentally, most likely on purpose. Better late than never.

I always called myself an 'atheist', naturally avoiding buddism due to the religious aspect. But after reading Hardcore Zen, my perspective if very different. If all we're talking about here is just facing reality, then I'm totally into it. I'm totally new to this, and I don't want to feel as if I just got myself into a religion. I was just told by someone "well now you are a believer, because you believe in zen" I did not have a good retort.

The definition in wikipedia states "atheists are frequently assumed to be irreligious or unspiritual. However, religious and spiritual belief systems such as forms of Buddhism that do not advocate belief in gods, have been described as atheistic."

Labels are so tedious. All I know is that I am very excited to read your next two books!